I did an eastern European trip two Summers ago. I have a GSM phone (AT&T). There was a Vodafone shop right in the arrivals terminal where I flew in. I purchased a SIM card and "charged" it with 30 Euros and it lasted me for 14 days. I did not specifically use the data however. Just a few photo posts to facebook and some phone calls.

I had a US data plan and phones with T-mobile for a number of years. On one of our trips to the UK, I got SIM cards from T-mobile in the UK (free). The first time I tried to get online from my son's house, I had zero signal. Then I remembered - his house has 28" thick walls made of stone. Went out to the garden, and bingo! I was online with good signal strength.

FWIW I had the SIM cards delivered to my son's house, and he mailed them to me. So, we had coverage when we transited through Amsterdam.

My wife and I both have Verizon phones on the Unlimited Plan. We used them last summer in the UK and Norway; the cost was $10/day for each 24 hour day that the phone was actually in use. Verizon gives you ~0.5GB of LTE data per day. We were there for 3 weeks and did run up a bill of a couple hundred dollars, but the convenience of having our own phone numbers was worth it for us and, compared to the overall cost of the trip, the cost of the phones was incidental.

It's been a long time, but FWIW in 2011 we toured Germany with a pair of SIMcards from Blau.de; we ordered them from a seller in the german eBay (eBay.de) and had them delivered to the company we picked our rental motorhome from (McRent). It all worked out perfectly.

It's been a long time, but FWIW in 2011 we toured Germany with a pair of SIMcards from Blau.de; we ordered them from a seller in the german eBay (eBay.de) and had them delivered to the company we picked our rental motorhome from (McRent). It all worked out perfectly.

Hope this helps,-- Vall.

We rented a Globe Bus from McRent in2007. We were the first to rent it and it only had 7km on it. It was a great experience. did you put the SIM in a phone or HotSpot?

We rented a Globe Bus from McRent in2007. We were the first to rent it and it only had 7km on it. It was a great experience.

Wow! Talk about a mint RV. :-) Ours had a few hundred miles but was also quite new, and coincidentally was also made by Dethleffs like your Globebus, but from one of their smaller Class C lines (Advantage). It was indeed small (under 20ft), but cozy and very functional. As you said, a great experience.

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did you put the SIM in a phone or HotSpot?

I had an Android phone at the time (a TMobile G2) and it already supported hotspot mode (as I believe all phones support today), so I put the simcard on it and shared its internet with our laptops. Wife also had a Blau simcard on her phone to operate as a backup and just so we could call each other in case we got separated. Her phone at the time was a simple feature phone so no hotspot mode, but after the gigabytes were used on my card we swapped and then used up hers.

At the time 4G was just getting started, but 3G worked perfectly almost everywhere, even in the countryside.

Thanks for all the replies. Last year we went to Italy. I have Verizon and did do the $10/day plan. Last year I had a Motorola Turbo 2. this year I have a Pixel 2 XL so will look into FI.

I ordered a GlocalMe HotSpot from Amazon. I will give it a try. I can always use the Verizon $10/day plan. i usually use my Tablet. I used the B&B WiFi quite a bit.

If you have a Pixel you will love Fi. My bill last month was $23. Next month will be even cheaper since someone signed up and gave me a referral. If you sign up with a referral you save $20 and so does the referrer. Great system.

You don't say who your current provider is. T-Mobile has great options for customers to where you may not need a different SIM... The other providers may as well. I'm a T-Mobile customer and had good luck in Germany a few years ago. My daughter did well in Spain. Research your service provider first. You may be able to pay for some additional services if necessary. We used mostly text and data.

You don't say who your current provider is. T-Mobile has great options for customers to where you may not need a different SIM... The other providers may as well. I'm a T-Mobile customer and had good luck in Germany a few years ago. My daughter did well in Spain. Research your service provider first. You may be able to pay for some additional services if necessary. We used mostly text and data.

I have Verizonwireless and did use them last year in Italy. They don't have a Hotspot plan. I bought a GlocalMe Hotspot that has a global VSIM and supports dual conventional SIMs. I bought a BNESIM SIM that will give me unlimited data in the countries I will be in for 30 days, the cost was about $45. The T-Mobile does look like a usable phone option. I bought two unlocked Blu Studio J1 4G phones and will use BNESIM SIMS in them. Will have unlimited free BNE to BNE calls, 250 minutes of International calls and 1GB of data per phone. SIM and phone together cost about $90 each.

You can pick up a SIM at any grocery store for cheap. The countries you intend on visiting are all part of the EU, so no roaming charges, and recently the data use charges associated outside of the country of purchase have also been eliminated. You can use whatever hotspots available with your stateside SIM, just leave it in airplane mode until you get a local SIM. If not, your phone bill will be outrageous just from it connecting to a satellite periodically. McDonalds here - I live in Germany - require you to register to use the hot spots. Again, laws changed recently to relax the Hot spot use due to liabilities. If you’re coming this way, recommend you visit Lake Bled Slovenia, and Pula, Croatia!

I started this thread and just returned from our trip to Europe. I used a GlocalMe Hotspot and my phone set to WiFi calling and Airplane Mode. it worked very well in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany. Had very fast service in all countries except rural Germany. Had poor service in Rothenstadt, Germany where my daughter lives. In Weiden it worked well. Had no problem going from country to country. I can recommend the GlocalMe Hotspot